Levy, the Democrat-turned-Republican Suffolk County executive, had Cuomo and his supporters on the edge of their chairs when he first announced for the GOP nomination in March and he did so again yesterday as the votes were being tallied.

It’s not so much that Cuomo believed that Levy, a fast-talking East End phenomenon with Tea Party-like appeal, was likely to beat the popular attorney general in November, it’s just that they were convinced he had the best chance to do so.

Levy, after all, has some $4 million in the bank, a track record as a fiscal conservative, and a natural base and proven bipartisan appeal in one of the state’s larger counties.

Had the Republicans granted Levy the right to run in the September primary, the threat of his candidacy would have hung over Cuomo all summer.

Levy’s rejection by the GOP also makes it more likely that maverick multi-millionaire Buffalo developer Carl Paladino will commit the resources necessary to petition his way onto the Republican primary ballot for a one-on-one contest with Lazio, another major boost for Cuomo.

Paladino’s money, his strong ties to the state’s growing Tea Party movement, and his penchant for catchy, if over-the-top rhetoric — “I’ll turn Albany upside down and take out the trash” — gives him a fighting chance to defeat the cash-strapped Lazio.

A one-on-one with Lazio will also get Cuomo’s blood pumping in a way that a Levy candidacy never could.

That’s because Lazio’s campaign is being orchestrated by Arthur Finkelstein, the strategist who oversaw the then-little known George Pataki’s defeat of Mario Cuomo in 1994.